Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York TimesExcess is a line of crystal by Hervé Van der Straeten, the Parisian designer, for St.-Louis. The Line Chandelier, 63 inches tall and 39 wide, has arms studded with cut crystals that look like rough rocks ($75,500). Store locations: (800) 441-4488, or hermes.com

nytimes.com

**not sure what the hermes connection is here?

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"It is not money that makes you well dressed: it is understanding."
ChristianDior

designer steven haulenbeek is a recent graduate of the masters program at the school of the art institute of chicago. yesterday he sent over one of his current projects, a scalable lighting series called 'cumulus'. cumulus uses photographer’s translucent shoot-through umbrellas as modular components to create a scalable lighting system. by gathering these umbrellas together steven has created a cloud-like form that can be expanded or reduced according to need. i really enjoyed steven's explanation about the project; he says, " I believe that the elements of design already reside all around us. Why can’t these “design elements” be pre-existing designed objects themselves. They are there for the taking. Sometimes it seems like we already have everything we need and maybe we should stop designing and start realizing what we already have."

These cocoon style lighting fixtures are part of a series that were created for a one-man show in Holland Michigan at the Holland Area Arts Council. This series explores the idea that when contained, light can become sculpture. They are steel wire frames with a flexible, plastic polymer web-coat.